Bloom Day 2019
This past October, Danse Bloom was proud to bring the second edition of Bloom Day to Vancouver, BC. For Danse Bloom, Bloom Day is our biggest event - a full day experience for young dance artists to experience interactive workshops, community building, panels, and talks with industry professionals. We were happy to meet so many inspiring Bloomies, parents, and dance artists from the Vancouver dance community. It was truly a day full of inspiration, education, and connection!
Bloom Day started with participants exploring the stunning space we selected through partaking in our Community Stations. Bloomies had the opportunity to learn about the Danse Bloom App, Broadway in BC, and the Dance Transition Resource Center, as well as get to know each other, pose in our photo booth, and answer a focus question at these Community Stations. It was a great way for Bloomies to get comfortable and ready to learn!
Valérie, Danse Bloom’s amazing founder, took the stage to welcome the Bloomies and asked them to reflect on their purpose for the day. She then introduced our first speaker, Ballet BC artist Kirsten Wicklund. In Kirsten’s talk “Confessions of a Contemporary Ballerina”, Kirsten talked to Val about her career and struggles, gave advice to aspiring dancers, and reflected on her vulnerable moments as a human and artist. This conversation beautifully set the tone for the rest of the event.
“I have a lot of respect for all of the moving parts of the dance community … it opened my eyes to all that I could be” - Kirsten Wicklund
The next panel, titled “Curating a Dance Program”, was moderated by dance journalist Pia Lo. Pia discussed artistic values with Jim Smith (artistic director of Dance House) and Tamara Thompson-Levi (founder of Shine Dance Festival). They were able to share their insight on the dance industry and curating their unique programs.
After a quick stretch break and some delicious snacks, our technology advisor Robb introduced our next speakers for the “Moving Locally and Internationally” panel. Three inspiring professionals, Greer Whillans, Antonio Somera Jr., and Char Loro, have had professional experience working in Vancouver and abroad. Each of them shared what these experiences brought to them and how this has impacted their careers, as well as sharing their artistic identities and advice to Bloomies hoping to follow their paths.
“Growth isn’t just in numbers, it’s also growth in how you can expand and learn” - Char Loro
While Bloomies explored meditation and networking, parents were able to participate in a roundtable conversation on “How to Best Support Your Child’s Dance Career” with Megan Andrews and Kristina Linden. This open discussion allowed parents to learn and ask questions about the industry, career paths, and all of the different dance-related opportunities available for Bloomies.
“As a dance parent, it can be hard to know where to address information for my young dancer after high school. This has been an amazing introduction to information and people who have those answers!” - Parent
The last two presentations of the day allowed Bloomies to explore dance in relation to other topics, like nutrition and technology. Dancer, choreographer, and nutritionist Cristina Bucci hosted a workshop on “Nutrition for the Energized Dancer”. She gave tips to Bloomies on the importance of meal-timing and what to eat as an athlete, and was able to answer specific questions. Danse Bloom’s very own technology advisor Robbert-Jan Brems gave a talk to Bloomies about “The Future of Dance with Technology”. This eye-opening presentation showed Bloomies intriguing clips of how dance can be used with motion capture and virtual reality technology. We believe it is extremely important to open the conversation on what is to come in the world of technology, and to inform dancers on how they can use tech to further their creative work.
“Today was very educational, inspiring, and a whole lot of fun! I have learned so much about the dance community, and who is in it. I feel so included in this amazing program.” - Bloomie
Bloom Day was a beautiful reminder of the impact that a strong, connected community can have. We hope Bloomies were able to grow and be inspired by all of the knowledge in the room!
Wondering what is next for Danse Bloom? The Bloom Squad is excited to announce our next project - the Danse Bloom App! Bloomies who attended Bloom Day were asked to personalize a dance portfolio that will be used for our team to prototype this application. Our objective is to connect global dance communities online through empowering dancers to reach out for collaborations, giving them the concrete tools to pursue creative work and get paid contracts. We are excited to explore new ideas in dance and technology with this project. Stay tuned Bloomies!
Photos by Andi McLeish
